Simulated Flight, Real Stress

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Job Sign-Up: Page 11, Post Number 272

-The outskirts of Motor City, 9:24 A.M.-

Leona sat in the cockpit of the Albatross as the autopilot landed the craft on the landing pad belonging to Lara Douglas, the designer and builder of the aircraft the Wizard Saint was seated in. She heard the aircraft land with a soft WHUMP and felt the shaking before it soon stopped. When the landing was complete Leona powered off the Albatross and walked out of the cockpit to go to the cargo bay.

Dressed in an olive green jacket over a black tank top and olive green cargo pants with brown boots, Leona was as ready for today as she was ever going to be. Lara had completed the Albatross flight simulator roughly two days ago and the Wizard Saint was going to learn how to fly it herself instead of letting Coleridge always do all the work. Should she complete the training Leona would learn a new skill and make some progress towards mitigating her fear of heights, a fear that had played a part in her losing to Medeia. The Wizard Saint clenched her teeth at the thought of her enemy and how the latter had effortlessly danced around her during the aerial battle.

If Leona had her way the skies would offer no refuge for Medeia during their next battle.

When Leona reached the cargo bay she strode down the ramp and out of the Albatross to meet with Lara.

-Outside the Albatross, 9:27 A.M.-

Leona cleared the ramp and the moment she was clear it went back up. She strode towards the waiting Lara, who was dressed in a dirty gray jumpsuit and brown boots with brown gloves on her hands . The other blonde smiled at the approaching Wizard Saint.

"Hey Leona! Long time no see!" The young woman greeted her. Leona raised her right hand in greeting.

"Are you ready to learn how to fly the Albatross yourself?" Lara asked.

"I'm ready." Leona confirmed. She was willing to learn anything that would help her against Medeia. She was going to do everything she could to prepare herself for the next clash with the Warlord no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient it was.

"All right then. Follow me!" Lara said before turning around and walking towards her home. Leona wordlessly followed behind her while taking a quiet breath to calm down before she took to the simulated skies.

-Inside Lara's home, the basement workshop, 9:41 A.M.-

"And here's my workshop." Lara swept her right hand out, presenting a large room that was full of items a mechanic and designer would need. In the middle of the left wall as a large tool chest with multiple drawers labeled "Aviation Maintenance" and on the right wall were two tool chests, one labeled "Automobile Maintenance" and the other "Motorcycle Maintenance." Along the left wall were metal shelves loaded with what looked to be spare parts for aircraft and there was an equivalent for automobile parts on the right wall and a sleek black motorcycle with silver as the secondary color resting on its kickstand not too far from the motorcycle tool chest.

Two meters away from the metal shelves was a table with paper blueprints on it and in the back of the room was a metal door.

"C'mon, Leona. The simulator's only a bit further." Lara urged before walking through the large space towards the door in the back. Leona followed behind her hostess and ignored the blueprints because what they were to was none of her business. They reached the door and Lara opened it with her left hand, holding the door open for Leona. The Wizard Saint walked inside and Lara followed, shutting the door behind them.

-Inside the simulator room-

The two blondes now stood inside a medium-size room with gray walls, a computer station on the left wall, and a giant black rectangular box with a door in the back sitting in the middle of the room. Leona assumed that the black box housed the simulator she was going to be using. Her assumption was proven right when Lara gestured towards it with her left hand.

"And there's the Albatross simulator, Leona. I built it myself from the ground up. It's got a perfect recreation of the cockpit and all of the controls! It even simulates flight motion so if you make the virtual Albatross go upside down you'll go upside down too!" Lara boasted to Leona. Leona did not like the sound of that, but she would need to learn how to cope with that situation if she wanted to have a chance of seriously challenging Medeia in a rematch. She took a quiet breath.

"The simulator's ready to go whenever you are, Leona!" Lara informed the latter that she could start the training whenever she was ready.

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-Inside the simulator-

Leona now sat inside of the simulator, which was an exact replica of the Albatross' cockpit. It had the seat, the safety harness, the controls, and everything else the actual cockpit had. Right now the simulator was inactive, but the blonde's mind was not sitting still. She was thinking about Medeia yet again.

Leona thought about everything Medeia had told her and wondered how much of it was sincere and how much of it was lies. Medeia was a master of deception and manipulation, skills that had undoubtedly seen a lot of use since long before the two met. Those skills had certainly worked on Leona because she had been played like a kazoo from start to finish.

In addition to being a skilled manipulator Medeia struck Leona as also being a hypocrite. The Warlord wanted freedom for herself while taking it from others. She wanted people to tell her the truth while offering distortions of the truth or outright lies in return. She casually threatened others but reacted poorly to words she perceived as threats directed at her.

Then there was the issue of Medeia's mood shifts. One moment she was a threatening figure who spoke in an icy tone and the next she tried to be motherly and caring. The moment after that she was an unpredictable trickster who liked to try and confound Leona into submission by twisting words to find meanings that were not there and implying that humiliating punishments could be inflicted on the blonde at any moment. Only a second after playing mind games she tried to be relatable and impart life lessons.

Some of what Medeia said might have actually been good points, but those life lessons had lost a lot of their weight because of the Dark mage's constant trickery. Leona had no way of knowing if Medeia was actually serious about trying to give advice or if it was just a deception used to advance some unknown aim of the Warlord's. For example, Leona suspected that Medeia had wanted the blonde to let go of her shame and guilt over the Ishgar Symposium and the fight in Hargeon Town so that she could paint the Wizard Saint as uncaring towards any suffering that was not her own or that of her single-digit number of friends.

Leona was not going to let go of her guilt and shame, not until she was ready. Medeia had probably not picked up on that because she seemed to blithely ignore anything she did not want to hear. The true depths of Leona's stubbornness was something Medeia would have to learn about the hard way.

The simulation activated and the screen came to life, which showed a clear, cloudless sky and a vast green field stretching in front of her. Leona's thoughts turned away from her enemy as she prepared to start the flight training by buckling the safety harness. Next the blonde reached for the button that toggled VTOL Mode with her left hand while placing her right hand on the control yoke.

"Leona, can you hear me?" Lara asked, her voice coming from overhead.

"I can hear you. Can you hear me?" Leona made an inquiry of her own.

"Yes, I can hear you just fine!" Lara answered. Now that that was established Leona focused on preparing for takeoff.

"You can take off whenever you're ready, Leona. I'll be monitoring the simulator from the outside, so if you get into trouble at any point I'm able to help you out!" The other blonde gave her the green light to start and let her know that if she got into trouble help was only a call away. Armed with that knowledge Leona pressed the VTOL Mode button, moved her left hand to the throttle lever and slowly pushed it up until she could hear the engines whir to life, and held onto the control yoke with her right hand as the craft began to slowly but surely lift off vertically.

When the simulated craft gained enough altitude Leona deactivated VTOL Mode, raised the landing gear, pushed the throttle up to roughly the halfway point, and then put both hands on the controls as she began to move forward. She quickly glanced at the instrument panel and everything appeared to be OK. The engines were in working order, the landing gear was up, VTOL Mode was deactivated, and fuel was not a problem.

"You did the manual takeoff perfectly, Leona. Now let's try manually flying around for awhile!" Lara commented on Leona's mastery of the manual takeoff before suggesting that the latter fly for real. An orange ring suddenly appeared in the sky in front of her.

"You're gonna go through a course marked by those rings. I want you to fly through the center of them if you can. I don't know how much you've flown on your own since we last met, but if you miss some rings don't sweat it. Training you to fly for real is what this simulator's for!" Lara told Leona what the orange ring was for. Moments later a trail of them appeared in the sky and went on for quite a distance before turning to the right.

"OK." Leona replied calmly as she held the craft steady and flew towards the first ring.

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Leona kept the virtual Albatross straight and flew through the first orange ring without any difficulty. She looked at the path ahead and noted that the rings formed a straight path that slowly turned right. That was a sign that she would need to do something other than fly straight to complete the course.

Leona focused on what she was doing now and maneuvered through the rings with ease. She listened to the soft chime that sounded whenever she passed through the center of one and kept flying until she approached the ring on the far right of the path.

"OK Leona, you're gonna need to bank right for this one. In order to bank you're gonna need to press the right rudder pedal. You'll find those controls at your feet. The left pedal moves you left and the right pedal moves you right." Lara informed Leona of what she needed to do. Leona reached out for the pedals with her feet and located them. She gently pressed on the right one and the virtual Albatross moved right while flying forward.

"You're gonna need to turn the control yoke too if you intend to bank in a particular direction." Lara chimed in with advice on how to perform a banking maneuver. The Wizard Saint obliged, gently pressing the right pedal and turning the control yoke right. She must have turned too hard because the simulator moved hard to the right, causing her to yelp as she was thrown to the right in her seat and she went far off course because she was too busy trying to sit up straight again to focus on following the trail.

"Easy does it, Leona. You turned the yoke too hard just now and you don't need to turn it very hard to make the Albatross move. You'll have to turn around for another try to pass through the rings." Lara advised Leona to slowly move the yoke as opposed to turning it suddenly.

"OK." Leona calmly replied as she settled down and focused again. She continued to maneuver right and felt the change in motion as her direction changed. She checked the instrument panel and everything was still green.

"You can speed up if you'd like, Leona. Just be aware that flying faster means you'll need more space in which to make a turn." More advice came from overhead. Leona wordlessly reached out with her left hand and moved the throttle lever up, increasing her airspeed. She was gently shoved back in her seat as the craft picked up speed and it began to turn faster but wider. Since she was in open sky that was not a problem, but in the future she might not always have that luxury.

After roughly a minute Leona had completed the turn and was now ten meters away from the trail of rings she needed to fly through.

"OK, now ease off of the throttle because you're gonna need to gently turn right to stay on course." Lara advised Leona. Leona wordlessly complied, decreasing throttle and keeping the craft steady as she began flying through the rings while slowly moving right to keep on course. This time Leona gently moved the yoke right and held it steady while gently pressing the right rudder pedal. This time Leona got better results as the craft moved right in a much more controllable manner and she stayed on course.

"You're getting the hang of it, Leona. Keep it up." Lara offered some encouragement to the Wizard Saint. Leona did as she was told and kept going until she reached the end of the trail, where a lone ring waited to the far right. It looked like it was time to perform a turn.

"OK Leona, this is where things might get a bit tricky. You're gonna need to use the rudder and turn the yoke diagonally to make this turn. Just be careful because you're gonna lose some airspeed in the turn." Instructions on how to make the maneuver were given. Leona waited a few seconds longer before pressing the right pedal and turning the yoke right and holding it until the artificial horizon showed her at roughly a forty-five degree angle. The craft began to lose airspeed in the turn and Leona moved her left hand to the throttle to move the lever up and get more speed.

Leona gently moved it up a little and she gained a little more speed. She then held the craft steady and was rewarded when the chime that indicated she had passed through the ring sounded. She continued the turn until she was facing the way she had come from, then leveled out the craft. Another trail of rings popped up in front of her. This one was a mirror of the one she had just completed... it started out straight but gradually moved left until a single ring at the far left remained.

"Now follow the trail. When you reach the end you'll have to make a left turn. You're doing good, Leona." Lara instructed the aspiring pilot.

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-On board the Albatross, the Galley, 11:58 A.M.-

After successfully completing the courses on how to use the rudders to move the aircraft left and right and how to make a banking turn Leona had been told that she would need to exit the simulator so that changes could be made to it. The next step would be learning to fly in three dimensions and Lara was going to adjust the simulator while Leona took a break. Now the Wizard Saint was sitting on board the real Albatross and was seated at one of the galley tables sipping her third cup of coffee. She had paused the training around 10:50 A.M. and was waiting for Lara to let her know when the changes were complete.

Her olive green jacket was draped on the back of the chair she was seated in and the blonde was trying to relax while on break, but she could not stop thinking about the next stage of training.

Leona had not done much maneuvering in three dimensions, not since that brief flight over The Forgotten Deserts when she got the urge to fly manually after buying the Albatross from Lara. After giving herself a few scares Leona had sworn off manual flight in favor of letting Coleridge do all the flying. The blonde was apprehensive about flying while looking down at the ground, which was what she would likely have to do during the next phase of the training. She recalled one of the most frightening times during her brief manual flight being when she was heading for the ground at a 45-degree angle and trying to pull up... that experience was the one which made her rely on Coleridge to fly anywhere.

Today Leona was going to try to fly the Albatross herself for a second time, but this time she was flying a simulator instead of the genuine article. She could fly with more confidence because she would not lose a very expensive aircraft in a simulated crash nor would she die or be badly hurt. However, she was still apprehensive about heading for the ground while behind the controls. The blonde took a sip of coffee and waited a few moments before taking another one. As apprehensive as she was Leona was determined not to let her fear of heights contribute to another loss to Medeia when the Wizard Saint and Warlord clashed again.

She would go through with the flight training so that she could reduce her fear of heights and hopefully be able to give Medeia a greater challenge during their next battle. Leona did not care how long reducing her fear took or what it would take to make that happen. She was going to become more comfortable in the skies and hopefully one day be able to finally cast aside the ironic "distinction" of being a Wind mage who was afraid of heights.

The galley door opened and in strode Lara, who made eye contact with the blonde mage.

"Hey Leona, the flight simulator's ready!" Lara informed Leona with a smile. The blonde set down her cup of coffee and walked out of the galley to begin the second stage of flight training.

-The simulator room, 12:05 P.M.-

Leona walked back into the simulator room and expected to see changes to the simulator, but its appearance was unaltered. Leona surmised that Lara had enabled some features on the software that would better mimic the sensations of real flight. Moments later the blonde mage thought to look at the floor and noticed that there was now a thick gray circular base around the simulator that looked to be high-tech because it had an access panel or two on it.

Was the new base going to raise her into the air if she gained altitude or lower her if she reduced altitude?

Leona did not know, but the unknown was not going to stop her from resuming the flight training.

"All right Leona, here's the deal. I added a base of my own design to the bottom of the simulator. It'll lift you into the air and lower you accordingly. This is just the second phase of your training. When you reach the third phase I'll make another modification that'll let you better feel turns to the left and right too." Lara said.

"I sure felt that hard turn to the right I made earlier." Leona quipped. Lara laughed.

"That's true, but during the third phase you'll really feel it. The first two phases are meant to ease you into the third one, where you'll really learn to maneuver in three dimensions." Lara promised. Leona was not sure what to make of that promise, but she did not say anything else on the matter. The other blonde pointed at the back of the simulator.

"It's ready to go, Leona. Just board through the back door, sit down, and start the takeoff sequence. I'll be monitoring your progress from out here and be waiting if you need help!" Lara assured Leona.

"All right. I'll get started then." Leona calmly said. She walked towards the back of the simulator, opened the door, and stepped inside as it closed behind her.

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-Inside the simulator, 12:09 P.M.-

Two minutes ago Leona had buckled the safety harness and had performed the takeoff procedures. She had taken off without a hitch and now she was airborne and approaching a trail of orange rings that had been placed for her to ease her into the next phase of training. As she flew Leona noticed that the trail began to lead gently and diagonally upward, meaning that she was about to learn how to gain altitude.

"OK, Leona. Here's what you do. The rings are leading you up and you have to follow the trail. Take it easy and don't ascend too sharply because if you do you're gonna lose airspeed like nobody's business. If you lose too much airspeed you might stall out in midair and you don't want that to happen." Lara gave Leona some advice.

"What's the best angle to ascend at?" Leona inquired as her eyes followed the trail.

"I'd say anywhere between twenty-five to forty-five degree angle. Ideally you want to gradually gain altitude." Lara answered. Leona put that advice into practice by gently pressing the control yoke down to slowly raise the nose of the Albatross. Little by little the nose moved higher in the air and Leona kept the yoke steady in its slightly lowered position to maintain the gradual altitude increase. She actually felt herself going higher thanks to the gray base that had been set up below the simulator.

"You're doing a good job, Leona. You're at a good angle and your airspeed's good. Just keep it slow and steady." Came praise for how quickly the Wizard Saint was learning. The Wizard Saint kept quiet as she focused on what she was doing. Leona passed through the rings in silence, the engines humming and the rings chiming as she passed through each one. When she passed through the last of them another trail popped up, but this one went in a straight line. Leona surmised that she was being given a respite before the next lesson started.

"Good work on that last part, Leona. Remember that you don't want to ascend too sharply because if you do you'll lose airspeed real fast. And if you lose too much airspeed you run the risk of stalling out." Lara doled out another compliment before throwing in a warning against trying to fly upward at a sharp angle. Leona would keep that warning in mind once she finished the simulator training and started flying for real. In the meantime she followed the new trail to its end while preparing herself for what was to come next. Seconds after reaching the end another one appeared and this one sloped upwards at a slightly sharper angle.

"All right Leona. You have a good idea of how to ascend safely. Now we're gonna try it again, but this time the angle's a little higher. You might have to increase throttle for this one." Lara advised. Leona wordlessly reached for the throttle lever and slowly moved it upwards as she gently lowered the control yoke with her right hand and did her best to hold it steady once she had achieved a good angle. She kept an eye on her airspeed, which continued to slowly decrease despite the additional throttle she was applying.

Leona decided to push the throttle all the way up and when she did her airspeed picked up and stayed there, but by the same token keeping the craft under control became a little harder. Still, she was over halfway through the new trail, so she kept going while maintaining control with both hands on the yoke. Leona continued to pass through the rings without too much trouble and when she finally reached the end she leveled out and flew straight ahead while waiting for further instructions.

"Not bad. You're learning how to fly pretty quickly." Lara complimented Leona. The Wizard Saint did not respond, instead focusing on what she was doing. She had plenty of motivation to pay attention during the lessons and learn them as quickly as possible. Leona wanted to learn how to fly the Albatross without the aid of Coleridge so that she could learn a new skill, but she also wanted to reduce her fear of heights before her next battle with Medeia.

Leona watched more rings appear a short distance away and immediately noticed that they formed a path that sloped gently downwards. The blonde looked down and saw a wide expanse of green below her, causing her heart rate to increase a bit. Even though she was sitting in a simulator the tension was very real because of the photorealistic graphics and the addition of the base at the foot of the simulator.

"OK, Leona. During this part you'll have to descend while keeping an eye on your airspeed. Remember when I said ascending decreases your speed? In this situation it's the opposite... descending increases your speed and you'll want to keep an eye on it because the faster you go the harder controlling the Albatross becomes." Lara advised Leona to monitor her speed during the upcoming lesson.

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"OK." Leona commented before adjusting course to fly towards the rings. She gently pushed the control yoke downward and once she reached the right angle held it there while using her left hand to gently move the throttle down and reduce her speed. True to Lara's word she was picking up quite a bit just by descending, so she needed to be careful. As she flew through the rings she heard the chimes ring and she kept flying despite her stomach turning flips because she could see the ground below.

Leona took a quiet breath and stayed on course until the trail ran out, then leveled out, increased throttle to the halfway point, and listened for instructions.

"All right, it seems like you have the basics down. Now let's try the exercise again, this time from a higher altitude." Lara told her. Leona blinked.

"A higher altitude?" Leona inquired with a slight hint of nervousness on her voice. She had not been expecting that.

"Yeah. You're gonna have to learn how to descend from varying heights to pass this exercise." Lara spelled it out for Leona. The Wizard Saint took a quiet breath.

"OK." Leona replied as calmly as she could.

"Now ascend until I tell you to level out." Lara instructed. Leona pulled back on the control yoke and the nose of the aircraft went up. She continued to climb until she was instructed to do otherwise while trying to prepare herself for what was coming up.

"OK, you're high enough. Now level out." Lara commanded after almost a minute had passed. Leona wordlessly obeyed and was soon flying forward and level. Moments later a path of rings appeared in front of her. This path started out with a gradual slope but after the twentieth or so ring a sharper slope had formed.

"Follow the rings from here. Just remember what I told you about minding your airspeed as you descend and you'll do fine." Lara issued more instructions. Leona wordlessly complied, aiming for the first ring and reaching for the throttle lever with her left hand. Before she reached the first ring she gently moved the lever down and soon reduced speed, lowering it just enough to maintain control while passing through the first ring. Leona noticed the uneasy sensation in her stomach as her heart rate went up a bit.

Leona followed the trail until she passed through the twentieth ring: when she reached that mark she lowered speed further since she had picked up some during the descent. She held the controls steady while descending further and felt her stomach began to turn flips as the ground below loomed in the distance. Leona was trying to remain calm, but the trail she was following was starting to go on too long for her liking.

"You're doing a good job. Keep it up!" Lara offered encouragement as Leona continued to descend. She kept an eye on her airspeed and when she felt she was going too fast lowered the throttle, but that measure was not quite enough to totally negate the speed gain. The Wizard Saint's breathing began to speed up as she tried to stay calm.

When would this trail end?

Leona passed through the last ring and when she did heard new instructions.

"OK, pull out of the dive. Pull down on the control yoke slowly and gently and lower your airspeed further if you need to, but don't lower it too much or you might run the risk of stalling out. If you pull down too hard on the yoke you might turn yourself upside down!" The other blonde doled out some much-needed advice. Leona was happy to do as she was told. She gently pulled down on the controls and gently lowered the lever, gradually pulling out of the dive. However, it was not happening fast enough because she was still approaching the ground and she did not like that.

Leona's breathing became rapid and shallow as she continued to lose altitude while picking up speed. Keeping her instructor's advice in mind, Leona kept gently pulling down on the control yoke while monitoring her speed. She began to pull out of the dive at an appreciable rate and was starting to relax a little.

"Level out now!" Lara instructed. Leona obliged, leveling out and feeling the craft rock up and down the moment she complied. She had been jostled around a bit, but she was in control of the aircraft and was flying straight. A few moments later it began to dip for some reason, causing another wave of panic to wash over her.

"Increase throttle so that you stay in the sky!" Came the next order. Leona reached out and gently moved the lever up to roughly the halfway point. She felt the engines return to life and the dipping stopped. This time she maintained her course and had no further difficulties staying airborne.

"Nice work, Leona. Things got a bit dicey for a moment, but you pulled through. If you want to take a break let me know and I'll stop the simulator." Lara made an offer to the Wizard Saint.

"I'd like to take a break, please." Leona requested with a noticeable edge of exhaustion on her voice. Her heart rate was starting to return to normal, but she was still coming down off of the adrenaline and was starting to feel a bit tired. Pulling out of the dive had taken more out of her than she had realized and she needed to stop and regain her focus before continuing the flight training.

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-On board the Albatross, the Galley, 1:44 P.M.-

Sitting in the Galley for the second time today, Leona sat in the same chair she had left her olive green jacket draped on the back of earlier. In her right hand was a full mug of coffee. On her mind was the earlier flight training. She had called for the break around 12:33 P.M. and had been on break ever since.

Leona had long ago recovered from the anxiety going into a dive had induced, but for some reason she still felt tired. Maybe it was because she had been training in a realistic simulator with cutting-edge graphics and realistic motion. Maybe it was because her fear of heights was stronger than she thought it was and keeping it under control enough not to scream had taken more than she thought it would.

At any rate the Wizard Saint was trying to muster the energy to finish the flight training. She was not sure if she could do it and that was not because she was bored. The training was anything but boring and it was something she was genuinely interested in, but something was keeping her from continuing. Maybe she just needed to go to sleep for awhile.

Leaving her half-full mug of coffee at her place, Leona left the Galley to go to the Pilot's Quarters and try to sleep for awhile.

-The Pilot's Quarters, 1:48 P.M.-

Leona had taken off her socks and boots and changed into a pair of blue jean short shorts to lay around in because she did not want to wrinkle up her olive green cargo pants and go back to flight training looking like she had just crawled out of bed. Now she was laying on her bed and facing the bathroom door while listening to the silence. She did not bother covering herself with a blanket because the room's temperature was warm enough that using one was unnecessary. The Wizard Saint was not sure what she was doing laying around in her quarters when she should be back in the simulator, but for some reason she was too tired to care. She was also too tired to care if Lara entered the Albatross and found her wearing a tank top and short shorts.

The blonde was not sure why she was so tired. She had consumed enough coffee to power the Albatross for a day but she felt like she had run all the way from the guild hall to Motor City. Leona's mind began to wander and it wandered until she relaxed enough to enter an early stage of drowsiness: she was still aware of her surroundings but she was not paying any real attention to them.

Leona took a quiet breath as she continued to advance down the path of drowsiness. Her mind kept wandering and despite her best efforts it wandered back to Medeia. The blonde frowned as she thought about her enemy and what the latter had done to her. She also thought about the "advice" that the Warlord had tried to give.

Leona recalled Medeia's words about what hanging on to her self-loathing would do to her and briefly considered the possibility that the prediction might actually be coming true. The blonde abruptly dismissed that possibility as suddenly as it had come up because the idea of her being so consumed by misery that she was unwilling to get out of bed was utter nonsense. She was just tired from the realistic flight training, that was all.

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-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 2:50 A.M.-

When Leona eventually returned to Lara for the rest of the flight training around 3:30 P.M. it turned out that the latter had nothing left for her to do on the basic maneuvers course except for a review of everything she had learned up to the break. Leona obligingly did the review and passed the lessons with ease. Now she knew how to manually fly the Albatross enough to get from Point A to Point B without crashing. Upon completing the simulator course Lara promised that she would work on creating more courses that covered more advanced subjects like flying in inclement weather and handling emergency situations like an engine suddenly refusing to function in midair. She also spoke about possible upgrades to the Albatross such as the ability to accept voice commands for some functions, a landing camera installed on the bottom of the aircraft so that Leona did not land on anyone or anything, and other ideas that were currently on the drawing board.

Leona bade Lara farewell and returned to the Albatross around 5:05 P.M. to return to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and do the paperwork that was likely piled on the desk in her office. She reached the guild hall around 9:25 P.M. and immediately went to her office while she was still able to focus on doing anything complicated. After a few hours of work Leona was finished for the time being and went to her room to go to sleep.

She was still wearing the same black tank top and blue jean short shorts she had worn during the flight training review and the return trip from Motor City. She had worn them to the office and now she was wearing them to sleep in. Normally Leona would have changed into something more modest before going to the office, but yesterday she just did not care.

Leona sat on her bed, reclined on her back, and faced her room door before drifting off to sleep within minutes.

-Leona's Room, 10:00 A.M.-

Leona did not get much sleep last night. She spent a good deal of her time staring at her room door and thinking about Medeia yet again, namely the "advice" that was given to her while she was a "guest" of the Warlord. She supposed that the Warlord fancied herself a therapist, but Leona was not buying the benevolent act the Dark mage put on after the latter had repeatedly ground the Wizard Saint's face into the dirt for the fun of it. She was not going to be Medeia's patient after being subjected to the humiliating deception involving the issue of Sorcerer's Magazine with her face on the cover and the revealing interview that gave away a lot of what she had been trying to protect.

If Medeia thought that sweet talk and gentle physical contact was going to win Leona over she was mistaken.

Medeia had taken too much pleasure in humiliating the blonde for the latter to trust anything that had been said to her. Leona was going to recover without the Warlord's "help" because she did not trust the latter further than she could throw her. She had managed to make it this far on her own and she saw no reason to take advice from someone who threatened her one moment and then tried to be her friend the next. Leona did not have time for that nonsense.

Leona forced herself to get out of bed and get her day started. First she would shower and get dressed in something more appropriate for the office. Then she would get some coffee from the guild cafe. Finally she would actually go to her office and do some administrative work before returning to her room and seeing if any messages from clients would be waiting on her. That was a good plan for her day. Once she got busy Leona would not have time to spare her enemy a second thought.

With that Leona walked out of her room to go get a shower.

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[Total Word Count: 6,468/10,000]

-Leona's Room, 12:06 A.M.-

Leona had spent an entire day in her office doing administrative work and was now back in her room. Dressed in a long-sleeved blue turtleneck shirt and khaki capri pants with white and silver tennis shoes, the blonde had taken the time to dress somewhat appropriately for her role instead of walking into her office while wearing casual clothing. She changed into a green tank top and blue jean short shorts before hanging her office outfit on the back of her chair. She then checked the ground for any messages from clients she might have gotten while in the office. There were no envelopes waiting on her.

Now that her work was done for the time being Leona went over to her bed and sat down on it, then reclined and rolled onto her left side. She faced her room door and had just closed her eyes when an unwanted thought came to her mind. That unwanted thought had to do with her enemy Medeia trying to give her life advice like they were friends. Leona's blood pressure went up just thinking about the Dark mage.

Why was she thinking so much about Medeia lately?

Leona shrugged it off and tried to go to sleep, which took about nine minutes.

-Leona's Room, 10:17 A.M.-

Leona woke up feeling like she had been hit by a freight train. She got sleep only in irregular intervals last night: she was awake for stretches of up to an hour before dozing off for twenty minutes only for the process to repeat for what seemed like forever. The longest stretch of actual sleep she had gotten was an hour just before she had woken up. Now she was feeling awful and just wanted to go back to sleep, but she could not. If she did she would go right back to thinking about the Ishgar Symposium and the battle with Medeia over Hargeon Town.

The blonde forced herself up and sat on the edge of the bed wishing that she could just turn around and lie down again. After a few moments Leona forced herself onto her feet and stared at her room door. On the floor was a white envelope, which likely meant a message from one of her clients. The Wizard Saint forced her feet to work and shuffled towards the envelope, then bent down and picked it up. She slowly walked back towards her desk and carefully opened it, then gently pulled the message out and opened it to find that it was from Dr. Reid.

The doctor was requesting a meeting with Leona. The Wizard Saint considered throwing the message aside and just going back to sleep or going to her office and diving headfirst into another marathon session of handling paperwork, but after a few moments she reconsidered and decided to go anyway. Maybe she could distract herself from her thoughts if she talked to the doctor.

-Motor City, Dr. Reid's laboratory, 3:35 P.M.-

Leona had flown to the outskirts of Motor City and landed in a large empty area, but Coleridge had done the flying because she was too tired to even entertain the idea of practicing what she had learned by flying the Albatross manually. She had spent the entire flight in the Pilot's Quarters trying to sleep so that she could feel somewhat human before her meeting with Dr. Reid. She had spent the entire flight thinking about something that was beginning to dawn on her.

What if Medeia had been right about what hanging on to her self-loathing would do to the Wizard Saint?

A couple of days ago Leona had thought the idea to be a load of garbage, but the longer she thought about it the more difficulty she had dismissing the feeling that the Warlord might be onto something. Leona could not believe that she might end up actually agreeing with Medeia about something without being coerced into it by the latter. Maybe some Motor City Nitro coffee might help the blonde get back on track.

Dressed in an olive green jacket over black tube top and olive green cargo pants with white and silver tennis shoes, Leona leaned against the kitchen counter while facing her hostess. Dr. Reid was dressed in a pink tube top and short black skirt with her long hair sticking out in places like she had been electrocuted or she just could not be bothered to make it look picture-perfect. Neither of the blondes was dressed to impress and it showed.

"You're looking casual today, Leona." Dr. Reid remarked on the Wizard Saint's attire.

"You look pretty comfortable too, Doctor." Leona dryly replied. The blonde doctor simply laughed.

"Yeah, I do. It's been an off day for me and I couldn't be bothered to dress up." Dr. Reid explained why she was dressed so casually. A small smile came across Leona's face.

"It's been an off day for me too." Leona remarked, hiding the fact that the past two or so days had been off days for her.

"Want some coffee?" The doctor asked. Leona's small smile became slightly bigger.

"I thought you'd never ask." Leona replied.

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The two blondes each had a mug of Motor City Nitro coffee and after a few sips Leona started to feel human again. She also started to forget about That Certain Someone who had been plaguing her thoughts lately, but the highly caffeinated coffee offered only a temporary reprieve. As soon as it wore off she would go right back to thinking about them and Leona was not sure what a long-term solution to that problem would be. Right now she would gladly take any distraction she could get no matter how long it lasted.

"I sent for you to tell you that the Atlas Project is working again. For now." Dr. Reid informed Leona of the reason the Wizard Saint had been called here. Some time ago Leona would have barely cared about the doctor's work because of the resentment she felt towards the other blonde, but when compared to the resentment she felt towards Medeia the first grievance was small potatoes.

"Is it now?" Leona asked with genuine interest.

"Yeah. It was a matter of replacing the old wiring with the special electrical wiring I purchased and reducing the output of the Atlas' generator. It's up and moving for now, but it remains to be seen if it'll stay that way." The other blonde replied and listed what had to be done for the repair work to succeed. Leona knew that there had been problems with the project before and that explained why the doctor did not sound very optimistic about the Atlas staying operational. She kept her mouth shut and let her hostess continue to talk.

"It's working for now, but I'm not sure if it'll stay working. A new problem always seems to come up and put me back at square one." Dr. Reid complained about her luck. Leona took a sip of coffee and lowered the mug before speaking.

"I know what you mean." Leona commiserated with the doctor. After the Ishgar Symposium Leona had sort of built herself back up by defeating Odhran Aegisbane. In between that success and several other successes she had been feeling kind of good, but losing to That Certain Someone in Hargeon Town and being her "guest" in wherever it was she had been taken to had set the Wizard Saint back. Now Leona was trying to build herself back up to where she was before the fight with the Dark mage whose name she was trying not to think of.

After the mini-vacation she had taken on Lion's Island the Wizard Saint was slowly starting to climb out of the hole she had fallen into. It was going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort, but it could be done. Leona had come from humble beginnings in Desierto to become a Wizard Saint and Guild Mistress, so if she could accomplish those feats she could bounce back from her defeat at the Dark mage's hands.

"Anyway, I'm glad that I managed to get somewhere because I've sunk a lot of Jewels into the Atlas Project. I've got money to spare, but I really want to see some results from this." Dr. Reid made another point the Wizard Saint could agree with. Leona had put a lot of Jewels into the Davinci Design System and the Vitruvian Design Table, so she wanted to see her work in robotics show results too. Speaking of robotics, she still needed to acquire production equipment so that she could make a working prototype of the robot from the schematics Mr. Bank had given to her. She was still waiting on getting the chance to meet with Mister Burke or Helena Burke to discuss the possibility of buying said equipment from them and it looked like she would be waiting for quite some time. That was OK, though... Leona had plenty of other things to do in the meantime.

The Wizard Saint took another sip of coffee and waited for her hostess to continue the conversation.

"Hey Leona, I've been meaning to ask you something." Dr. Reid stated. Leona made eye contact with her hostess.

"What is it?" Leona inquired. The Wizard Saint was not sure what the question was going to be, but she would do her best to answer it.

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"Do you resent me for not teaching you robotics?" Dr. Reid asked out of the blue. Leona had not expected to be asked that question and it must have showed on her face because her hostess looked a little upset. The Wizard Saint closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"I did." Leona stated. She had been asked a question by someone she had respect for and she was not going to lie to them. Dr. Reid's expression changed from "mildly upset" to "more than a little upset."

"I... I see." She replied. Leona was not going to beg or plead for the doctor's friendship. If this was the end of their relationship that was just how things would have to be.

"Why did you say you did have resentment?" Dr. Reid asked moments later. Leona did not take very long to respond to that question because she was able to think on her feet and come up with what she felt would be a good answer.

"A short time ago I had an experience that changed my perspective on things. After what I went through I realized that I was being resentful of you for petty reasons." Leona explained. The "experience" she was referring to was her encounter with Medeia, but the doctor did not need to know that. All she needed to know was that while there was resentment in the past, it was gone now. It was up to the other blonde as to whether she believed the Wizard Saint or not.

Dr. Reid thought over Leona's words while maintaining eye contact. It was obvious that the former was upset over what she had just been told. Leona felt a twinge of guilt for being so frank, but the keyword was "twinge." She was not on the verge of tears or about to go into a downward spiral because she was afraid that she might have upset her hostess. Dr. Reid had asked a question and Leona had given an honest answer.

"I see. I appreciate your honesty." Dr. Reid replied after a thoughtful silence. Leona was not sure what to make of that response, but she would roll with it. The Wizard Saint realized that from time to time her answers to questions probably came across as vague, so she did not hold the other blonde's words against her.

Leona kept quiet as an awkward silence filled the mini-kitchen. Both blondes looked at one another waiting for the other to say something, but right now it was just not happening. The more she stood there the more Leona got the impression that she had overstayed her welcome. Maybe it was time for her to go.

"Well, I'll go back to the guild hall now." Leona broke the silence. Dr. Reid nodded slightly.

"That would be best." She said calmly. The Wizard Saint did not bother responding to that.

"Thanks for the coffee. I'll see myself out." Leona replied before leaving the mini-kitchen under the gaze of her hostess. Leona had likely burned a bridge, but it could not be helped. Dr. Reid should not have asked that question if she did not want an honest answer.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 2:02 A.M.-

Once Leona returned to the guild hall around 7 P.M. or so she immediately went to the office to take care of her administrative responsibilities. There were thirteen stacks of papers waiting on her, so she had quite a bit of work to do. After finishing them around 1: 50 A.M. she went back to her room and took off her socks and shoes.

Leona began to think about Dr. Reid's response to her answer when she stated that she had once held resentment towards the latter for refusing to teach her Robotics. Maybe the Wizard Saint could have phrased it better. While what she had said was the truth, the way it was said could have been the real cause of the doctor's unhappiness.

It was too late for regrets now.

Leona sat down on the edge of her bed before reclining and facing the ceiling. When she reclined on her back the blonde began to think about the meeting with Dr. Reid. She wished she had expressed the same sentiment differently, but there was no going back. If the consequences included losing the doctor as a contact she would just have to live with them.

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[Total Word Count: 8,782/10,000]

-Leona's Room, 6:04 A.M.-

Leona had slept off and on but could not stay asleep for more than twenty minutes at a time before waking up again. Reasoning that maybe needed to change out of her olive green cargo pants into something more comfortable, Leona got off the bed, walked over to her large wardrobe, and pulled out a pair of blue jean short shorts to put on. She changed into them and put her cargo pants on the back of her desk chair, then shut the wardrobe door and walked back over to her bed. The blonde sat down on the edge and reclined again, this time rolling over onto her side and facing the room door.

As she looked at the door she began to feel regret for what had happened between her and Dr. Reid. Leona could have phrased her response to the question differently or she could have gone into greater depth about why she had given up her resentment towards the doctor. She wished that she could go back in time to that pivotal moment and do things differently, but despite her wishes the Wizard Saint had not had the presence of mind to explain herself and the moment to do so had been lost forever. She took a quiet breath as the wave of regret washed over her and she tried to go to sleep again.

-Leona's Room, 7:06 A.M.-

The Wizard Saint had slept for barely over an hour before she woke up again. She groaned in frustration as she felt her exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks. All she wanted to do was sleep before she had to go to the office and she could not do so. She clenched her teeth and balled her hands into fists as she forced herself to get up off of the bed and swing her feet around to the wooden floor.

Leona forced herself to her feet with an audible groan and swayed in place as she got her balance. Once she was steady on her feet she faced her room door and looked at it with unfocused eyes. She just wanted to sleep but had no idea what it would take to make that happen.

The irritated blonde had a really stupid idea. She was going to board the Albatross and go to the Pilot's Quarters to try and sleep. With that she exited her room, shut the door behind her, and left the guild hall to board the Albatross and try sleeping in there.

-On board the Albatross, the Pilot's Quarters, 7:11 A.M.-

Leona walked into the Pilot's Quarters and made her way over to the bed, which had not been made up in some time. That was lazy of her, but since this was her quarters and her aircraft she exercised her right to leave the bed unmade if she wanted to. Leona was glad the bed was unmade because now that she was on board the Albatross she probably could not stay awake long enough to bother to unmake it. She sat down on its edge and swung her feet over, then rolled onto her left side and faced the open bathroom door.

Within moments of laying down the Wizard Saint began to actually feel relaxed and closed her eyes. She set all of her regrets aside and soon went to sleep.

-The Pilot's Quarters, 7:31 P.M.-

When Leona finally woke up after an uninterrupted stretch of twelve hours she felt human again. She got up from the bed and faced the door to the Pilot's Quarters. She knew that she had slept too long and needed to go to the office, so she walked briskly out of the Pilot's Quarters and set out for her office in the guild hall as fast as her legs could take her.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 11:03 P.M.-

Leona strolled back into her room after an evening in the office that was not a marathon session. She had dealt with only three stacks of paperwork and she was grateful for that break from the norm of ten or more stacks. Now that her work was done for the time being her mind turned to pondering why she had had to board the Albatross to get any sleep.

Was it because she needed somewhere to sleep where she would not be disturbed by anyone?

Or was it because on some level she felt like she no longer deserved a room in Silver Wolf Guild Hall after losing to Medeia?

Leona folded her arms across her chest as she gave some thought to the matter.

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Leona thought about the first possibility and briefly considered it to be the primary cause of her recent inability to sleep before thinking it over a little more and relegating it to a secondary cause. It was not like guild staff members or visitors barged into her room while she tried to sleep, but maybe her choice to sleep on board the Albatross was motivated by a need for somewhere she had a good chance of not being disturbed. Sometimes she was awakened by guild staff members, but only if something that required immediate action came up and that was not very often.

She then thought about the second possibility and entertained the idea that it had a part in her troubles before dismissing it. Leona had been able to sleep in her room many nights after her loss to Medeia, so some subconscious belief that she did not deserve a place in Silver Wolf Guild Hall was not the reason. After considering those two possibilities a third one came up, one she had not considered right away.

Maybe the real source of the problem was what had happened in Motor City between her and Dr. Reid.

Leona gave it a bit of thought and realized that that might be the case. She had been able to sleep without too much trouble after her loss to Medeia, but last night she could not stay asleep for very long. Last night was the same day she had went to Motor City to visit her longtime client Dr. Reid and she had gotten home in the evening after parting under less than pleasant circumstances, so it stood to reason that she was still upset about how the meeting had ended. That was likely why she had had difficulty last night.

Now that she had a potential cause for the problem she had to find a solution for it. The best and most obvious one would be to swallow her pride and return to Motor City to apologize to the doctor. However, Leona did not feel like that would be a good idea because apologizing right now might come across as an insincere gesture being done only out of obligation, so she would wait a few days. She had better be careful not to wait too long and miss the opportunity to at least try to make amends with Dr. Reid.

Leona would deal with that complex issue later, though. Right now she needed to sleep because she doubted that tomorrow's workload would be nearly as easy as tonight's had been. She took a glance at her bed and took a step towards it before deciding that she would just board the Albatross again and sleep in that bed to spare herself another restless night of lying around and staring at the ceiling or staring at her room door.

-The next day, Leona's Room, 1:25 P.M.-

Leona had slept until 10:33 A.M. and when she finally woke up took a shower and changed out of the black tube top and blue jean short shorts she had worn for the past two days. Now she was wearing a green t-shirt and khaki capri pants, an outfit that would probably not make the male guild staff members as uncomfortable as her previous outfit. Now she was in her room reading a message from Helena Burke about the return of her older brother from his vacation to Crescent Island.

That was good news by itself, but Helena had also hinted at the possibility of a job in a month's time, something which pleased the Wizard Saint. She did not mind having to wait for the job opportunity because she would likely have plenty of other things to do in the meantime. Leona had waited a long time to get a chance to purchase the Davinci Design System and Vitruvian Design Table, so she had no problem with another lengthy wait.

Leona put the message inside her desk drawer, then left for the office so that she could get going on her administrative responsibilities. Hopefully there were not too many stack of papers waiting on her desk. She would not complain about another easy workday like she had had last night.

[Post Word Count: 704]
[Total Word Count: 10,260/10,000]